Coming to America...Today

I woke the kids at 5:00 am this morning by playing “America” by Neil Diamond. It felt appropriate. We have all had it stuck in our heads the rest of the day. It took a surprisingly long time to get our bags checked for the flight and we had to hustle to the gate to be put on a bus and taken to the plane. It was the largest plane we have been on so far. The kids and I were in the 4 seats in the middle of the plane and Ammon was across the aisle. 

The 6 hour flight went well though and we landed safely in Boston. As we were going through customs the lady asked us if we had anything to declare. Azure said, “Yes, I am hungry.” That got a chuckle out of the very serious gal checking our passports. It was pretty funny. Then as we were riding the escalator to baggage claim there was a large American flag hanging over the escalators. Azure said the Pledge of Allegiance. I think she may be happy to be home.

Today is a strange day because we are losing hours the longer we go. We left Madeira at 8:00 am this morning but landed in Boston around 10:00 am after a 6 hour flight. Our flight to Salt Lake won’t leave until 6:30 pm. We had thought to just hang out in the airport all day, but we had to exit the airport to pick up our luggage and so we decided we might as well go see Boston. 

We hopped on a bus to the train station where we were able to store our luggage. Then we took an Uber to go see the USS Constitution. The kids were so happy to have English signs everywhere. The museum was great. We heard a lot of different languages being spoken. We decided this was our slow immersion back into Utah culture. 

The museum was great and seeing the ships was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed them. My foot was having none of this though. I have been living off ibuprofen and Cormac has started joking that the only thing keeping his mother going is her next dose. Great. My kids think I’m an addict. They may be right.

We went aboard the USS Constitution first. This ship has the nickname of Old Ironsides. We had watched a few movies in the museum in which they had an actor proclaim, "Her sides are made of iron, Huzzah!" Next time you see Cormac ask him to quote that for you. You won't be disappointed. Old Ironsides was the ship that established the US as a force to be reckoned with on the seas. She was nearly broken down several times, but the public has always come to her aide to make sure she remains healthy and around for us and future generations.

We next walked over to see the USS Cassin Young. This ship was used during WWII. We got to walk around the main deck. The ship is named after Cassin Young who proved himself a hero during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. 

We had struck a deal with the luggage storage guy who cut us a break on the price to store the bags. In order to get the deal, though, we had to be back before his shift ended (which was at 2:00 pm). We got back to the train station and decided to stay there and eat at the restaurant. I pointed out the irony of leaving the airport to go hang out in a train station.

None of us have been to Boston before. We all enjoyed it a lot. I like it a lot more than New York. After lunch we returned to the airport. While in the airport there was a kid who would not stop screaming. He was sitting near us and we were all dreading getting on a plane with that kid. I felt bad for his mom. Cormac said this was a result of how easy the car rental had been the day before. We lucked out though and they didn't board with us.

The flight home was a good 5 hours long and was delayed. We were all so tired. We watched some of the Olympics on the flight and the girls got a little sleep, though not much. When we landed we had a good long walk back to the baggage claim and the exit. The kids said it felt really weird, it didn't really feel like home. We have been in so many airports and train stations the last few months I think they all start to feel like just another stop, just another airport. This one didn't feel particularly special.

Our neighbor reached out as we landed. She said our house alarm was going off. We don't have a house alarm. She sent pictures and our hugh lights were freaking out. I think they were doing our "Halloween" setting.

When we came out of the secure area of the airport Cormac got swarmed by his 2 buddies, Clark and Jacob who had come to pick him up. He was So excited to see them. They took him to give him a ride home while the rest of us went to find a Uber to take us home.

We got home right after Cormac to the sight of a strobe light show and chalk art welcoming back Cormac. It was pretty fun. We also had no air conditioning and our grass is dead. The AC was broken and the inside of the house was 95 degrees at 11:00 pm. We opened all the windows and put all the fans in the windows. Even so, it was hot and it was difficult to sleep.

It was a wonderful trip. We are glad we went. We are also glad to be home. The kids thought it would feel weird being home. They were surprised that it didn't feel weird so much as completely normal. It's good to be back to normal.